This invention relates to spreading machines for animal bedding material. Such material is in the nature of loose stalks, chips, granules or particles. Examples of such materials, known as loose bedding materials, comprise straw, saw dust, wood chips, sand and the like and mixtures of these. These materials also provide a means of absorbing animal feces and urine, and in consequence are used extensively.
To provide bedding for the animals, the bedding material must be spread over the area in which the animals will lie down to rest, and machines for this purpose have been developed. For example, in my European Patent Application No. 0826302, I have set forth a method of and a machine for spreading animal bedding material of the above type in cattle and like stalls. The machine specifically described comprises a conveyor which extends horizontally, and the animal bedding is fed to the conveyor from a hopper located above the conveyor. The conveyor is driven at high speed and in consequence, the bedding material can be flung from the end of the conveyor and is propelled to the far end of the stall, ensuring that the whole stall is layered with the bedding material.
That particular machine is however limited as to the area or location in which it can be used. It is specifically for cattle stalls, but there are often large open areas, known as loose yards, where animals rest, and it is advantageous for these areas also to be layered with the above bedding materials, and the present invention seeks to provide a machine of novel construction which can perform this task quickly and efficiently.
According to the invention there is provided a machine for spreading bedding material, comprising a hopper for receiving a bulk supply of the material, said hopper comprising sides, ends and a base, conveying means in the hopper for displacing the bulk supply in the hopper towards the ends, discharge apertures in the base and located towards or at the ends, whereby material displaced by the conveying means falls through the discharge apertures, and including two distribution spinners which are adapted to be driven and are located to receive the material which falls through the respective apertures, and to propel it away from the respective hopper ends onto the area to be layered.
The spinners are preferably arranged to rotate in opposite directions. The spinners may be driven at such a speed to cause the material to be propelled away from the machine to a distance in the region of 15 to 40 feet. The spinners can be of any form, and suitable examples of spinners are set forth in my co-pending UK patent application No. GB0009026.6.
The conveying means may be auger means, and in one example, there are two parallel augers in the hopper, the augers being respectively of right and left flights, the augers being driven in the same direction, so that one of the augers displaces the bulk material towards one end of the hopper and the other auger displaces the bulk material towards the other end of the hopper.
Other auger configurations may be adopted. Thus the two augers may be of the same hand, but may be driven in opposite directions, or the augers may from the central region have opposite handed flight sections from the center to the ends, so that the material is fed by each auger towards both ends of the hopper.
The means for driving the augers may be a hydraulic motor or hydraulic motors, and it is preferred that a hydraulic motor may be used for driving the spinners. In one example, a single hydraulic motor drives the spinners by way of V belt drives. Two pulleys on the spindle shaft of the motor are engaged by two V belts, and the belts are respectively drivingly connected to pulleys on the respective spinner shafts. Alternatively, the augers may be driven directly through a gearbox.
The spinners have suitable throwing vanes to propel the material over the areas to be layered. To treat a larger area, the machine is propelled over the large area to be treated, the material being spread as the machine progresses.
The machine may be self propelled, but preferably is adapted to be carried on a tractor or on the front of a loader. In any case, the hydraulic power for the motors is preferably provided by the prime mover of the machine or the tractor/loader, the motors being connected to the prime mover driven pump, by means of high pressure hoses. This provides the advantage that the hopper of the machine, on which the motors are mounted, can be adapted to be moved relative to the rest of the machine.
In one example of the machine the hopper may be mounted so as to be movable between a collecting position, in which the hopper is tilted and can be used as a loader bucket to pick up the bulk supply of the material (by pushing the hopper in this position into the bulk supply of the material). When the material has been picked up, the hopper can be tilted to an upright position ready for use.
The extent to which the material is thrown from the machine will be dependent upon the speed at which the augers and spinners are driven, but by using hydraulic motors, the speeds of these components can be varied considerably.
The apertures in the base are associated with closure/control plates which can be positioned selectively to close the apertures completely or to a required degree. These plates are movable either manually via a mechanical advantage device, or by a hydraulic ram or any other suitable means, and the plates may have holes therein, the hole sizes in effect being adjustable whereby the flow of the bedding material can be controlled, thus controlling the amount of material dispensed.